About

Mary Corbet

writer and founder

 

I learned to embroider when I was a kid, when everyone was really into cross stitch (remember the '80s?). Eventually, I migrated to surface embroidery, teaching myself with whatever I could get my hands on...read more

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Slate Frames – Two Sources

 

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Slate frames are more and more difficult to come by here in the US these days.

I think the cost of wood and the cost of labor makes them pricy, and folks who previously manufactured them, either as a wholesale product for retail stores or as a side hustle to sell directly, have fallen off a bit.

Below, I’ll share a couple sources for good quality slate frames, and provide information for further exploration of slate frames for those who would like to know more about them.

Slate Frame, Laced
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Studio Life: Selecting Embroidery Supplies for Projects

 

Happy Friday!

I’ve been having a bit of fun in the studio! One of my favorite parts of a project is moving the project from a vague notion to a solid concept and then selecting materials that I think will work well to produce what I have in mind.

Even though we’re not even close to autumn (we’re closer than we were yesterday!), given the influx of unseasonably beautiful and almost chilly weather this morning, it’s perfect timing to talk about pulling supplies for this particular project Anna and I have been working on.

I’ll tell you how I go about the preliminaries of an embroidery project that may (or may not) make it to publication here on Needle ‘n Thread.

Selecting Embroidery Supplies for Stitching Projects
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Cornflowers Stitch-Along: 5b: The Final Touch!

 

Today, we finish our Cornflower Scissor Envelope stitch-along! I’m so excited to cover the final touch on this project (the button and loop closure), so that you can put your pretty little scissor envelope to good use to house your favorite needlework scissors!

If you are just coming along this stitch-along and you like the looks of it and are interested in following along, you will find all the previous installments to this project available here in the Cornflowers Project Index on Needle ‘n Thread.

If you would like to purchase a materials kit for this project, you can find the Cornflowers Materials Kit available here.

If you are a member of the Needle ‘n Thread Community on Patreon, last Friday, I posted the final lesson (covering this portion of the project, too) over on Patreon in a handy-dandy downloadable PDF format for you to print and save.

Preliminaries over, it’s time to move on!

Cornflowers embroidered scissor case - final touches
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Cornflowers Stitch-Along 5: Creating the Scissor Envelope

 

Today, we’ll look at the first part of finishing the Cornflowers Scissor Envelope, our current Stitch Snippet stitch-along here on Needle ‘n Thread!

Sadly, I can’t fit the entire finishing of the project in one blog post (it’s around 40 photos), so we’ll do half today and half on Monday.

If you are just joining in on this adventure, you can find all the previous articles for this stitch-along available here in the Cornflowers Project Index.

If you would like are looking for materials for stitching your own Cornflowers scissor case, you can find the Cornflowers Materials Kit available here.

For members on Patreon, the finishing will be covered in one downloadable PDF, which will be posted in the Needle ‘n Thread community on Patreon this weekend. Hopefully, before today is out, that will be available. I’m also working on a little video.

Let’s take a look at the first steps in finishing the Cornflowers project!

Cornflowers Scissor Envelope part 5: Creating the Envelope
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Tool Talk: Milliner vs. Bullion Needles – What’s the Diff?

 

Recently, I had a discussion with a stitching friend about needles. She saw some of the needles I was using in this tutorial and this tutorial, and she wanted to know what kind they were.

So we got to talking about milliner needles, the sizes they’re available in, what sizes we like to use, and about a needle made and marketed by Tulip as a “Bullion Knot Needle” and described as a “big eye straight needle” in size Long and size Regular.

And that brought us to these questions: What is the difference between a milliner (also sometimes called a “straw” needle) and this “Bullion Knot” needle manufactured by Tulip? Aren’t the “Bullion Knot” needles just milliner needles repackaged under a different name? (No, they aren’t.) And why would we need a “Bullion Knot” needle if we already had milliner needles to make bullions and other wrap stitches?

I figured I’d answer her questions here. So today, we’re going to discuss the Milliner Needle and the Bullion Knot Needle to see what the differences are between the two.

Milliner Needles vs Bullion Needles - what is the difference?
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Figure Embroidery Close-Ups: the Mind Boggles

 

Good morning and Happy Monday! I’m so glad to be back from a long holiday weekend, and I hope you are, too!

Summer’s really trucking along! I arrived back home in Kansas early last week after being away for about 9 days. You couldn’t tell I was gone, could you? I planned ahead pretty well this year! Of course, I had my trusty-rusty phone with me to keep up as best as I could while away from home.

When I got home, though, the middle of the week involved playing the inevitable Catch-Up Game, followed by the holiday with some weekend events to navigate – all of which involved falling behind a bit. But now…. now!! We’re back to the Bliss of Routine and Reality! There is much good to be said for Routine!

As the Routine settles back to normal here at the studio, you can expect the following Grand Events this week:

Today, we’re going to look at some figure embroidery up close; Wednesday, we’ll have a little Tool Talk and compare a couple needles that may be of interest, especially for an upcoming tutorial; and Friday, we will finish Cornflowers. Yay!

Figure embroidery up close
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